Jacqui Jacoby on the web:
It can take years. Literally. Publishing houses can sit on our manuscripts while we wait to hear. They have a “no simultaneous submission” rule, so even when a writer has an agent, the wait can be agonizing. We carry our cell phones on us, just in case the call comes in. It may have been months, even half a year, and yet we still check our messages as soon as we get home from running errands.
When a letter arrives in our mailbox with that anticipated letterhead in the upper left hand corner, we stare at the envelope, maybe turn it over in our fingers a couple times, afraid to open it even though we already know that it’s far too thin to be an acceptance letter. When we finally dig up the courage to tear off the end, we find it’s a thank you note for the assorted box of Starbucks coffee we sent them for Christmas.
We sigh. We might even laugh a little.
And then we wait some more.
This process can go on for years. The process of writing one book, researching it, creating the characters and scenes and location. We finish it, we edit and we submit it. And then we start the wait.
Or, we can try another way, a way that keeps us working all the time. Not just on our books, but on other aspects of our careers. Aspects that not only keep our minds fresh and our fingers nimble, but ways that keep our name in the minds of agents and editors, of other writers or people in the business who might want to remember us.
We can reinvent the way we wait. We can recognize that there are a multitude of facets to writing that goes beyond just producing a book.
Sometimes, it’s just not enough to be producing novels. It might be time to look at our goals for the next six months or a year and see where it is we want to be when those calendar months are over. Published, we want to say. Secure in a book deal, we might add.
But the truth of the matter is that whether or not our book sells next week, next month or next year is totally out of our hands. Once we put the manuscript in the mail, it is up to the agents and editors to do their jobs while we continue to write.
What is in our hands is what we do with the time while we are waiting.
We can work on our next book. That much is a given. The second book has to be ready if the editor buys the first book. And if the editor says no, well then we still have another book to send out the door and double our chances while we circulate both one and two.
However, there is more to a writing career then just books. Have you ever happened to catch Stephen King’s regular article in Entertainment Weekly? Or attended a workshop given by Suzanne Brockmann or Debbie Macomber? Last year in Atlanta, Nora Roberts not only did interviews with writers, but she gave the speech at the PAN luncheon.
These people are putting their time and energy into other areas of their career as well as just turning out their novels. Each one of these activities requires preparation and writing and time.
End of Part 1. Read more of Reinventing the Wait Part 2 on Learning to Write.
The crime wasn’t in what Trevor
Grant had done. It lay in what was done to him. Now, years after he lost his
family, he faces life in prison for his part in removing the guilty. In Hannah
Parker’s mind, she has two strikes against her: she has too much money and too
many brains. In her experience where one of these might blacklist you, the two together was a life
sentence.
When the chance comes to see the
boys on trial, their cause becomes her cause. With the silent resources behind
her, she will work the system, securing the release of the men she believes
innocent of conscience, if not the crime.
Strangers coming from different
backgrounds, Trevor with Gavin, will join Hannah. She will become part of their
everyday living—holding Trevor close—even as they keep an escape plan in place
in case anyone ever looks twice and asks “do you live around here?”
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It's the "hurry, hurry, wait" game. It's enough to drive you crazy, but at least there the option to go Indie or small pub along the way. That's such a blessing to so many.
ReplyDeleteIt was a long road. Nas Dean was instrumental in getting me here.
DeleteIt actually is all you. You work very hard and keep writing. You don't sit back and wait for things to happen...you seek out ways to make it happen. And you make damn sure that it happens!
DeleteIllegal Exit sounds like it could be a movie. Wow. Much success to Jacqui!
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be great. I see who plays the parts!!
DeleteI don't write novels, I do know from reading blogs from people who are actual authors that there is a great deal of work besides just writing xox
ReplyDeleteThere is a MASSIVE amount of work in just book production. Then doing the rest, it's a ride of a life time.
DeleteThe waiting game is the reason I decided to self-publish. I'm getting to old to wait.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Jacqui!
In this day and age, there's really no reason to wait for the "all-pwerful" gatekeepers to say yes. They aren't so all-powerful anymore. If you're a newb and you do get a yes, and your book doesn't sell well, expect to be figuratively blacklisted by that publisher and all the other big ones too. Three of my CP group got agents. What followed was a big pile of nothing and being ignored a lot. After two years, two of us fired our agents, pubbed with small presses or hybrids and began growing our visibility and fan base. The third has about four ms's with her agent, keeps writing new ones, and has nothing out because the agent won't let her self-pub even a novella. But the CP hangs in there...and waits...
ReplyDeleteI once waited two years for my publisher to decide whether they wanted to publish the sequel to my novel that they had publisher a year earlier. I'm embarrassed I waited that long. Now I have a publisher I respect. Why do we do this to ourselves? Act as if we don't decide better.
ReplyDeleteIt's a long haul for sure. I called my blog The Write Game when I started. I should have called it The Wait Game.
ReplyDeleteI like to work on anywhere between 2-3 projects a day. It keeps the work on-going so there aren't as many lulls. Congrats, Jacqui!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Jacqui. The waiting game isn't easy. I always work on several things thinking that if one becomes a drawer manuscript, the other projects can possibly make it.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely lots to work on all the time. There is really no time of doing nothing- even while we wait- we work. :) Wishing Jacqui all the best!
ReplyDelete~Jess
I did not know Stephen King had a regular article in EW. I'll have to check that out.
ReplyDeleteThat much waiting does sound incredibly painful. I've not gotten an agent, but the months I spent querying my first novel . . . I don't know. I did get some good tips, especially from a revise and resubmit, but I'm not looking forward to doing it again. On the other hand, self-publishing is a big responsibility. You have control, but you also have a lot to do to sell your book, as I am discovering.
Congratulations to Jacqui! Excellent post. Waiting is difficult, but there are productive things we can do while we wait. I write short stories while I do.
ReplyDeleteThe waiting game can be rough! I waited forever to get an agent. Then I got one. And I've been waiting years for him to sell one of my manuscripts. :(
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your release, Jacqui!
ReplyDeleteWait a second, I didn't know the Stephen King thing in EW was a regular feature. I must have missed out on so many articles! Hope they all get collected in a book someday...